War of the Usurper

{{Infobox military conflict | conflict = War of the Usurper | width = | partof = the Reign of Maxime Séraphin and the First Seraphic Revolution | image = War_of_1888.png | image_size = 350px | alt = | caption = Battle of Chouteau | date = 12 May 1888 - 21 July 1894 | place = Southern Teudallum | coordinates = | map_type = | map_relief = | map_size = | map_marksize = | map_caption = | map_label = | territory =

• Valle Crucis gains independence from Cassonne within 10 years of peace
• Aquitayne annexes Port Puichéric
• Aquitayne annexes Al-Raha ???

| result = [[Peace of Saint-Catherines 1894|Peace of Saint-Catherines

• Cassonne pays reparations to Aquitayne for full cost of the war
  
• Cassonne issues a full apology and retracts its claims to the initial cause of the war

| status = | combatants_header = Belligerents | combatant1 = Cassonne | combatant2 = Aquitayne | combatant3 = | commander1 = Maxime Séraphin
Lord Alphonse of Auberon
Clément Trausse | commander2 = Immanuel I (d. 1889)
Tiberius III
Lord Reich of Freyport | commander3 = | units1 = | units2 = | units3 = | strength1 = Cassonne
375,000 - 625,000 | strength2 = Aquitayne
325,000 - 550,000 | strength3 = | casualties1 = Combat deaths:
100,000 | casualties2 = Combat deaths:
75,000 | casualties3 = Military deaths from disease: 150,000 - 300,000
Total civilian dead: 550,000
Total dead: 950,000 - 1,225,000 | notes = | campaignbox = }}

The War of the Usurper, War of 1888, or Guerre de l'Usurpateur, was one of the largest conflicts in the 19th century in Astyria. An estimated 900,000-1.2 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle, famine, or disease.

Background

Constitutionalism in the Republic

Main article: Constitutionalism in the Grand Âge of Cassonne

Melisent Séraphin takes power in 1875 after her dad dies and begins trying to bring constitutional reforms to the monarchy.

Restorationists

Group of wealthy merchants and military officers begin colluding to restore absolute authority to the monarchy. Melisent goes on a public speaking tour promoting constitutionalism and gets assassinated by her son.

Rise of Maxime Séraphin

Son takes power and begins consolidating authority, using Aquitayne as a scapegoat for the pressure to remove the monarchy from power that his mother was touting.

Domestic troubles in Cassonne

Main articles: The Great Panic (Cassonne) and The Great Panic

Economic collapse due to harsh authoritarian treatment of military and civilians.

Beginning of hostilities

Maxime declares war on Aquitayne for destabalizing the country by trying to remove its monarch, in an attempt to consolidate power and get the economy working on a war footing. Not expecting much resistance from Aq.